Amino Acid Analysis Solutions

New UF-Amino Station Offers Simultaneous Multicomponent Analysis for Enhanced Throughput

Analyze 38 amino acid components in just nine minutes!

Two major problems exist with traditional amino acid analysis techniques. The first technique (ion-exchange chromatography with postcolumn derivatization) allows many components to be analyzed at once but the method run times are long. The second technique (reverse-phase HPLC with pre-column derivatization) enables faster analysis but the number of analyzed components is limited. As a result, chemists are forced to make a decision to either analyze a large number of components or have a fast method.

UF-Amino Station overcomes these limitations. Jointly developed by Shimadzu and Ajinomoto Co., Inc., it features a special-purpose, fast analysis column and a LCMS-2020 mass spectrometer, which supports ultra-fast analysis speeds, to achieve the simultaneous analysis of 38 amino acid and amino acid-related components* in just nine minutes. Additionally, it automates the derivatization reaction to eliminate the need for cumbersome pretreatment procedures by manual operation. UF-Amino Station is an excellent tool for the analysis of food products, such as meat and fermented foods containing many impurity components, and for the biochemical analysis of culture fluid.
* Permits the analysis of 38 amino acid-related components, such as anserine, citrulline, taurine, and GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid), in addition to the 20 major amino acid components.

Opening Up a New World of Amino Acid Analysis

The combination of a special-purpose, fast-analysis column and LC/MS allows for shorter analysis times than conventional techniques.

LC/MS Offers Superb Detection Selectivity

Using an LC/MS instrument provides accurate analytical results even with difficult samples containing many impurities.

AmiNaviTM Software Simplifies Operation

Analyze a sample quickly and efficiently with AmiNavi dedicated software, which provides complete support for the full range of analysis operations.

Automated Derivatization Improves Efficiency and Reliability

A fully automated derivatization can occur by using an autosampler to automatically pretreat the sample, eliminating concerns about human error during the derivatization process.

Applications

The high selectivity of UF-Amino Station permits the analysis of amino acids in meat extract, which is difficult by PTC precolumn derivatization and UV detection due to the effects of impurity components.

Post-column Amino Acid Analysis System

For high-sensitivity measurement of amino acids in foods and biological samples

The analysis of amino acids plays an important role not only in the food industry, but also in natural product and pharmaceutical fields. This system uses detection by post-column fluorescence derivatization, with o-phthalaldehyde (OPA) / N-acetylcysteine as the reaction reagent, to selectively and sensitivly quantitate the amino acids contained in samples with high levels of contaminants.

Features

Determines amino acids with over ten times higher sensitivity than the ninhydrin method (UV detection), by using a derivatization method that provides a selective reaction with amino radicals in combination with fluorescence detection.

Outstanding Reproducibility, as derivatization occurs after separation in the column, reactions are not affected by the sample matrix, resulting in exceptional precision of analyses.

Easy to operate, since the eluent from the column is automatically derivatized by mixing it with the reaction reagent. This approach saves time and reduces manual labor.

The mobile phase and reaction solution are available as a kit, reducing time and effort and minimizing variability due to their preparation.

Detection Principle

After amino acids are separated by cation exchange chromatography, aqueous sodium hypochlorite solution (to convert analytes to primary amines) and OPA/N-acetylcysteine reagent are added to the eluent, the resulting fluorescent derivatives are detected.

Analysis Example

Two models are available - a "Na" model, capable of rapidly analyzing amino acids hydrolyzed from protein, and a "Li" model, capable of separating naturally-occurring free amino acids. The chromatograms displayed below show the separation of a standard solution of hydrolyzed protein amino acids containing 17 components, measured using the "Na" model and the “Li” model results from analyzing soy sauce diluted by factor 200, respectively.

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